The visiting San Antonio Spurs defeated the Utah Jazz on Halloween, completing their first back-to-back set of the season with a split.

Devin Vassell (right foot) and Tre Jones (right ankle) were missing from the Spurs.

Lauri Markkanen was sidelined by the Jazz due to back spasms.

The Spurs countered a 9-0 opening run by the Jazz with 13 points, but the offense was stuck in the mud for the rest of the period. They made just six of 24 baskets as the Jazz punished them with 11 consecutive points from Patty Mills and John Collins near the end.

The second quarter began with the Jazz leading 30-19, but the visitors managed to get within six points, largely thanks to the actions of Victor Wembanyama, Chris Paul, Jeremy Sochan and Keldon Johnson.

Then the Spurs came out of the break with a fruitful pick-and-roll play from Harrison Barnes-Wembanyama that laid the foundation for a 12-2 run. Defensively, they showed the regular pressing all over the field as well as the 2-2-1 and the paint protection was strong and held Utah to four of 13 goals in central defense in the third frame.

The fourth quarter began with the Spurs leading 77-67. Paul continued to organize the offense and led to the second sharpest shooting sequence of the game as the team rolled toward the finish line.

Let’s review what happened.

Observations

• On an evening after Victor Wembanyama had very little influence on either side, he defused the Spurs offense with several three-pointers. He also scored three times on the court in the first half, on a lob set up by Paul, as well as a putback and a feed from Julian Champagnie. Defensively, he started guarding Walker Kessler and was beaten on a rim roll. But Wembanyama checked it well and fended it off, even as he recovered from helping a teammate stop the ball and fending off a pick-and-roll set at the Cup. His best plays of the game were getting on the Jazz’s PnR, taking the ball from Brice Sensabaugh and then completing a dunk on the counterattack; and stay high and blow up Collin Sexton’s jump shot.
• In the second half, Wembanyama’s pick-and-roll defense was solid. He deflected an opponent’s pass to Barnes in drop coverage and smothered Kessler in the same style, leading to an open-court dunk by Barnes.
• Former Spur player Patty Mills sent his regards and shot three three-pointers in 53 seconds at the end of the first break against two decent tackles and one a little late in the corner. In addition, the Spurs loosened the corner protection to prevent dribble penetration. Still, the Spurs mostly recovered in time and got the ball on the catch. The Jazz only converted 21.9 percent of their three-pointers.
• The Spurs’ long-range attack was unable to capitalize on several instances where the Jazz gave them the opportunity to make interior scoring difficult as well. The Silver and Black recorded seven of 26 triples in the first half, five of 17 in the second half and made 57.5 percent of their attempts in the paint.
• Chris Paul was the second-best lead, and his fingerprints are all over the fourth quarter. He maneuvered four baskets into the mid-range, shot three three-pointers and prepared ten plays without a turnover.
• The Spurs’ bench provided a 37-point lead, but was outscored by 13 points. Stephon Castle was San Antonio’s strongest substitute because he usually controlled the ball well in defense and scored in three of eight appearances.

The Spurs return home to take on the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday. Tipoff occurs at 7:00 p.m. CT on FanDuel Sports.